Falling Space
by Strider117
Summary: A turian fleet stumbles on a human colony in the wake of the Covenant War. What will ensue?
1. Chapter 1

If anyone has noticed, I'm not the best writer, nor the fastest updater, but I do take pride in my ideas. So, I had another one, which I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, though I enjoy both.

* * *

**Year 2562**

**Nine years after the end of the Covenant War...**

**UEG Colony World Shanxi**

**UNSC destroyer _Maelstrom_**

Commander Jack McCall stood upon the bridge of his ship and frowned. His destroyer, the UNSC _Maelstrom_, was the picture of discipline, the crew members all focused on their own respective tasks. Which was why one person there looked totally out of place.

"What the hell am I looking at, Doctor?"

The young woman he was addressing adjusted her glasses nervously at being talked to by the most important person on the ship. Doctor Lacy Stevens was a recently graduated student of the Luna Academy of Sciences, having gotten doctorates in the areas of language and alien physiology, which was one of the reasons she was on the ship.

At exactly 0814 hours two days before, a trading ship close to the recently colonized planet of Shanxi reported seeing an odd, yet massive device on the edge of the system. It didn't match any known designs for human, Separatist or Forerunner ships, so, immediately, it had been designated a civilian no-fly zone, and a UNSC ship was sent to pick up a team of scientists to study and identify if the device was hostile.

That ship never returned.

Hence, why his destroyer, the _Maelstrom_, was being sent to discover what had happened.

"It appears to be an alien device, Captain," Lacy said nervously, adjusting her glasses again. He gave a stern 'hmph', his fingers tapping out a tune on the rail like they did when he was agitated.

"Can you be any more specific?"

"Not until we can get over there and study it. If you'd allow us-"

"Not happening. The last team we sent to study it never came back, so you're staying put until further notice."

Dr. Stevens began to pout, but he honestly had more important things to worry about than her feelings. Something about this situation just didn't sit right with him.

"Status on reinforcements?" he asked.

"Four frigates and one _Marathon_ will be here in forty minutes, followed by a larger fleet in three days," a crewmember replied, and his frown sunk lower.

Shanxi was a recently colonized world with only around eight hundred thousand settlers and one Marine base. It was surrounded by a ring of mineral-rich asteroids, hence why there were several mining stations among the debris.

Since the end of the Great War, the number of ships in the UNSC was at an all time low, therefore only one Frigate could be spared for orbital protection. That was the ship that had disappeared, and McCall didn't like it. Besides the fact that it left the colony almost defenseless, it was also unusual. No Covenant Loyalist activity had been detected out here, which was one of the reasons for such light defenses in the first place.

So why had the ship disappeared?

It was his strong suspicion that this tuning fork alien construct thing had something to do with it.

He had to admit that it was rather aesthetically pleasing. Two fifteen-kilometer long curved metal 'arms' surrounded two revolving, gyroscopic rings five-kilometers across. In the center was a blue glowing core of some unknown element. What was odd was that it was a 'cold' construct, meaning it didn't emit radiation or heat. Even Forerunner artifacts gave off some heat, which led him to believe that this was something else.

Hence why his ship had been sent here.

He swelled with just a hint of pride at being able to say that. _His_ ship.

The UNSC _Maelstrom_ was true to the old saying about destroyers, in it being able to 'outrun what it can't kill, kill what it can't outrun.' 2.5 meters of Titanium A battle armor stretched along it's hull, thicker than normal. It was equipped with _Pillar of Autumn_ refits, namely it's reactor being far more powerful, with advanced cooling systems as well. Shields had become standard on most UNSC ships, and his was no exception. Thirty-eight oversized Archer Missile pods and twelve 50mm Autocannons dotted the hull, providing both enormous attack and defense power. Four Shiva nuclear missiles and one HAVOK nuclear mine were ready and waiting to be deployed. An oddity in the usual armament was the addition of three 15cm Mark 2488 Mass Drivers on the outer hull. The main armament consisted of two Series 8 Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, able to fire three shots each in a single charge.

In essence, his ship was kickass.

He frowned again. He had the nagging feeling that he'd learned to trust through years of combat. That sense that something was about to happen.

Something big.

**Near Mass Relay 314**

**THS _Palaven_**

General Desolas Arterius stood upon the bridge of his ship and frowned.

The Relay in front of him was supposed to be dormant. It wasn't anymore.

Two days previously, a standard patrol of one cruiser and four frigates had reported unusual activity near the Relay. An hour after that, one of the frigates appeared in council space, badly damaged with over half its crew, including the captain, missing or dead. The first officer, when questioned, said that an unidentified ship had appeared through the Relay. According to the law of the Citadel that no new Relays were to be activated, they fired on the ship.

Unfortunately, it hadn't gone down quietly.

It managed to destroy almost every ship in the patrol, including the cruiser, and crippled the last frigate before finally being taken out with a flurry of disruptor missiles. The odd thing was, no use of element zero was detected, in either the ship or its weapons.

The lieutenant was practically hysterical when he first reported it, talking about enormously powerful weapons and even some kind of shielding system that seemed to go far beyond kinetic barriers. Many of the older and more experienced turians, including himself, scoffed at the thought. A society that didn't even use Eezo couldn't possibly have developed something the Council had been trying to for millennia without success.

So, his fleet, consisting of three cruisers, three carriers, and six frigates, was being sent through. Another fleet, with a dreadnought, five cruisers, four carriers and nine frigates would follow through after a half hour.

"Contact all ships," he ordered. "Tell them to form up on me and prepare to enter the relay."

"Yes sir!"

**UNSC _Maelstrom_**

"Sir!"

McCall looked over at his telemetry officer and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Something's happening with the construct, it appears to be powering up!"

He looked out at device, and indeed it was moving faster and glowing brighter.

"Orders, sir?" his second lieutenant asked. Everyone waited with bated breath as the Commander of the ship thought about what do to. Finally, he raised his head.

"Red alert," he said, turning around and sitting down in his chair. "All hands, bring the ship up to combat alert Beta. This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill." He turned off the com and turned his head. "Dr. Stevens, I suggest you sit down and strap yourself in."

The pretty brunette was startled at being addressed directly, but sat down in a chair and did as he said.

The glow of the alien construct became brighter and brighter and the rings spun faster and faster until it was hard to look at.

"Shall I deploy light shielding, sir?" asked a chipper voice. The captain looked over at his AI, and nodded. Instantly, the room grew darker as the windows polarized.

"Thank you, Naruto," McCall said, rubbing his eyes.

"No problem!" said the _Maelstrom's_ AI, a particularly upbeat one that took the form of a character from an old manga series. Blond hair, blue eyes, whisker marks, the whole package.

Yes, even the orange jumpsuit.

Looking away from the fashion monstrosity, Captain McCall peered out at the construct, which was still moving faster and faster. He unclipped his seatbelt and stood up, before wincing slightly.

"Are these pants too tight? If we're going into combat, I don't want them to get in the way," he said, stretching his legs.

Naruto looked over and smirked. "I don't think you should be worrying about your pants, Jack. But they do show off your backside, in case you were wondering."

McCall glared at the miniature construct with disapproval. "Just scan the thing, see if anything's changed," he said, frowning.

"Yes sir, Captain Tightpants."

"And enough of that!"

Naruto snickered and most of the crew tried to hide grins, but they all quieted down to focus on their tasks.

"Construct hasn't changed much, aside from glowing brighter and going faster. I think something's about to happen."

"Do you know what's going to happen?"

"I have an idea, and I don't think you're going to like it," Naruto said, crossing his arms with a frown. Jack raised an eyebrow at his serious tone.

"What?"

"I think something's coming."

"Hm," Jack grunted noncommittally, but several of the crew noticed his fingers tapping faster.

"Sir!" came a panicked call from a crewmember. "Twelve ships have just come through the device!"

"Loyalists?"

"No, they don't match any known ship classifications."

"Hail them, challenge and identification," he said after a moment. "I want to know exactly who we're dealing with."

**THS _Palaven_**

General Arterius frowned as his fleet appeared through the relay into this unknown system. It was smaller than he expected, consisting of a small yellow sun, two gas giants, and one red planet, probably indicating high concentrations of iron. There were several artificial structures in the asteroid belt of the red planet.

"Sir, a ship has appeared and is attempting to hail us!"

"Put it on the tactical display."

A few seconds later, the bridge crew got it's first look at the alien ship.

"Spirits, what the hell is that?" Desolas muttered.

Covered in armor and bristling with weapons, the ship floated in space, like an ancient predator, waiting to pounce. It even _looked_ menacing, like it had been made purely for war.

"Sir, that... ship... is hailing us," a crewman said nervously.

The turian general grunted. "Don't bother responding. These fools clearly have no respect for our laws, so we will show them proper manners."

"Sir," his first officer, Joran Pallis, interjected. "We must exercise caution. A single ship of a lighter class than this one managed to destroy or cripple five of ours. I don't think-"

"Do I pay you for your opinion?" the general snapped. "These primitives don't even use element zero, they won't be a threat. Nothing can stand before the might of the Turian Hierarchy!" He turned back to the display and pushed the com button. "All cruisers and frigates, prepare firing solutions. Carriers, disengage from combat and prepare to invade the planet."

Several growls of assent sounded throughout the bridge as engines flared across the fleet, bringing them closer to the enemy ship.

**UNSC _Maelstrom_**

"They're not responding and are accelerating," Naruto said, crossing his arms. "Their power levels are increasing, Commander."

McCall frowned, and after a moment sat back in his chair. "Red alert. Bring the ship up to combat alert Alpha. Weapons hot, shields up. All hands, prepare for combat. Naruto, what sort of weapons do they have?"

"Looks like the three larger ships have spinal mass accelerators. They fire smaller projectiles than ours, but I think they go up to higher speeds, hence high payloads, so I wouldn't discount them out of hand. They and the smaller ships all have missile pods, plus some unusual weapons that look like laser turrets." Naruto said then his eyes widened. "Sir, they're firing!"

"Evasive maneuvers!"

On the outside of the destroyer, massive jets fired, shoving the ship to the side, trying to push it out of the path of the shots. However, the last glanced off the _Maelstrom's_ shields, shaking the ship slightly.

"Report!" the commander said.

"Shields at ninety-three percent," Naruto said. "Their weapons are pretty strong, I'll watch out for 'em."

"Status on MACs?"

"At 100% charge and holding, standard heavy shot in each."

"Then by all means, give our reply," McCall growled.

Naruto grinned. "With pleasure!"

Energy coalesced inside of the destroyer as the magnetic capacitors charged.

Then, the two MACs fired, a pair of six hundred ton slugs streaking away from the _Maelstrom_ towards one of the larger targets, a cruiser.

The results couldn't have been more damaging.

The first shot struck the ship at an angle, lessening the overall damage. However, it still had enough momentum to completely shatter the kinetic barrier protecting the vulnerable hull. A millisecond later, the second round struck the bow of the frigate.

Later, when the footage of the battle was played at slower speeds, it would show that the hull of the cruiser literally _rippled_ as the MAC round struck. The ship's ablative armor, designed to block GARDIAN lasers and not physical objects, might as well have been paper against the force of the oversized bullet.

Traveling from bow to stern in less than a second, and ripping several important components of the ship out with it, the round continued out into space, never to be seen again. Secondary explosions all along the hull began to tear the cruiser to pieces until it finally vanished in an enormous turquoise explosion.

Back on the bridge of the destroyer, several members of the crew cheered at the success of the first attack.

"Quiet down!" McCall said, and the bridge fell quiet again, looking up at their commander, who seemed deep in thought. Seconds passed in silence, before he looked over at the AI. "Naruto, can you bring up a map of the system?"

"Of course. What's your plan?"

**THS _Palaven_**

General Desolas Arterius, decorated warrior of the Hierarchy, commander of a turian fleet, tried to pick his jaw off the ground.

A single, minuscule ship had managed to destroy one of the three cruisers he'd brought with him. And while cruisers weren't as powerful as the larger dreadnoughts, they were nothing to sneeze at, having a single spinal mass accelerator, disruptor missile pods and a GARDIAN laser system. Since the ship was shorter in length, the rounds it fired couldn't get up to speeds as high, therefore were far less powerful. However, the kinetic barriers it sported should have been able to stand up to anything less than a fully powered round from a dreadnought.

And a single, glancing shot from one of the main guns of the enemy ship was enough to completely shatter them.

It took a few seconds for his brain to start working again, and he immediately started snapping out orders to his Turian crew members.

"Contact the fleet and tell them to activate all weapons," Desolas said, and taking a deep breath, forged ahead. "All ships, accelerate to attack speed! Prepare to engage!"

"Sir! The enemy vessel is turning around!"

The random shout of one technician was enough to completely throw him off. "What do you mean, turning around?"

"They're fleeing towards the planet, sir," he said, then his eyes widened. "They're firing!"

On the outside of the destroyers hull, the three mass accelerators swiveled around, charged up, and each fired one round at one of the frigates at the _Palaven's_ side, striking the barriers with 1.1 gigajoules of kinetic energy each. A few seconds passed, and then they fired again.

Desolas slammed a fist onto his command chair. "They're just going to take potshots like little cowards!" He pressed the com button. "Carriers, head towards the planet immediately. Cruisers and Frigates, full speed ahead, destroy that ship!"

The six frigates, followed by the two remaining cruisers, began to pursue the retreating destroyer. Meanwhile, the three carriers began to accelerate away from the rest of the fleet towards the planet.

**UNSC _Maelstrom_**

"Sir, three ships have broken off from the pursuing fleet and are heading towards Shanxi," Naruto said. "I'm guessing they're going to assault the planet while the rest keep us busy."

Commander McCall frowned. "As much as I'd like to help the Marines planet-side, we've got to deal with these assholes first." He turned to the AI. "Is everything set?"

"Set and ready," Naruto said with a grin. "On your mark."

McCall looked out into space at his approaching target, the rings of Shanxi, and his lips quirked.

As he sat in his chair, his fingers tapping incessantly, he muttered a phrase, too quiet for any of the crew to hear, yet was still picked up by the bridge log microphones. "_Full bore and into the abyss._"

The destroyer sped through space towards Shanxi. Or more specifically, toward the rings surrounding it.

Rocks floating through space, dozens of meters thick at times, crashed into the shields of the _Maelstrom_ and bounced off, not damaging it in the slightest.

McCall grumbled as the ship shook again. Even though the asteroids didn't do any damage, they did transfer a lot of momentum onto the ship, hence why they were shaking a lot. "Are they following us in?"

"Yep. Whoever the other commander is, he doesn't seem to be too cautious."

"Well, that works to our advantage," Jack muttered. "Release the mine!"

On the belly of the _Maelstrom,_ a five meter capsule burst out and latched onto a nearly 30-meter wide asteroid that floated by.

"Full speed ahead!" McCall said.

The ship groaned as the reactor worked overtime, shunting as much power as it could towards the engines. The four cones flared as they pushed the massive ship away from the asteroid they'd floated past.

"Sir, we're exiting the asteroid field."

"Naruto," McCall said calmly. "You know what to do."

The AI grinned cheerily and gave him a mock salute. "Aye aye, Captain!"

The advanced engines and cooling system in the _Maelstrom_ allowed it to temporarily push its power output up to 300% for a few minutes. It was this feature that Naruto used now, accelerating the destroyer at three times its normal sublight speed.

In other words, _fast._

**THS _Palaven_**

"Sir, the enemy ship is accelerating rapidly! It's exiting the asteroid field!"

The general's eyes narrowed. "After them! Prepare firing solutions!"_  
_

As the turian ships sped after the destroyer, they didn't notice the asteroid from before drifting directly into their path. The first several ships ignored it.

And right as they were about to fire on the fleeing ship, a new sun appeared in the Shanxi asteroid belt.

The device buried in the center of the asteroid had been a nuclear mine; when it detonated, it blasted the rock apart, sending a shower of molten metal, rock and plasma directly into the turian battle-group surrounding it.

The result was devastating.

While relatively low yield for a nuclear weapon, only twenty megatons of TNT equivalent, attaching the device to the asteroid provided the reactive mass to greatly increase the efficiency of the device. The turian ships ablative armor absorbed the heat from the blast relatively well, but the shards and chunks of rock from the asteroid peppered the light armor, inflicting major damage on almost every single ship. Three of the frigates were disabled outright, either out of commission or destroyed, while the larger cruisers, with the heavier armor, managed to avoid same fate mostly by dint of being behind the frigates with their kinetic barriers facing towards the explosion.

General Arterius cursed as the light's flickered in the captain's cabin. These aliens, in the five minutes his fleet had been in the system, had managed to destroy four of his ships, and it was making him angry.

"Alright," he growled. "If these aliens want to play, let's play."

* * *

First chapter done, hope you all enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2, hope everyone enjoys. The carriers I was talking about in Chap 1 were troop transports, in case that wasn't clear.

Since I already put a disclaimer in the first chapter, I'm not going to do it again. I'm lazy, sue me.

And before anyone else leaves a stuffy review about how lame and un-original my story is, I would remind you it does have a humor tag. I'm just writing for the hell of it.

* * *

Many people agreed that Shanxi was a nice planet. Red sand beaches near the equator contrasted nicely with the almost turquoise sky. Near the poles, the red began to turn white as there were two near constant snowstorms capping both ends of the planet. Given the environment, most colonists didn't venture there. Many looked up at the sky when they saw a sudden flash of white as a nuclear device detonated high up in space.

The wash of radiation from the nuke caused a small but gorgeous aurora near the north pole. For anyone able to see it through the heavy snow clouds, it would have been a beautiful sight, even if they knew what it represented.

Just goes to show you that beauty is only skin-deep.

The colonies' administrator had already been briefed on the situation above the planet by the UNSC _Maelstrom_'s AI, and she in turn sent a message to the Marine base to prepare for inbound aliens with unknown technology.

Above in space, the destroyer was already on the move.

**UNSC _Maelstrom_**

"Mine detonated, commander," Naruto said with a grin. "From the brief scan I got before we passed behind Shanxi, they don't look like they're moving any time soon."

McCall nodded, frowning. "Maybe, but I'm not chancing that. How long till we're back in range?"

"The rate we're going? Minute and a half."

The commander looked at the _Maelstrom_'s AI with a raised eyebrow. "Can we shave that?"

"We're pushing the redline here with the reactors, commander. It's only thanks to that cooling system that the engine hasn't fried already. 'Sides, Shanxi isn't a small planet."

"Alright, play it as close as you can," he said. "This waiting is burning a hole in my hull."

"Let's hope that it doesn't literally. We need our hull."

Rolling his eyes, McCall turned back and sat in back in the captains chair, closing his eyes and folding his arms. "Naruto, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, please."

"Aw, come on! Why the hell do you always have to listen to this old stuff? Scrape, scrape, screech, screech, never a tune you can dance to!" the AI complained, and McCall, not bothering to open his eyes, snorted.

"You planning on doing much dancing?"

"If it'll help put a grin on your ugly mug, I might!"

"I beg your pardon!?" he asked, glaring at the AI with annoyance.

"Well too bad, cause you can't have it!" Naruto replied.

Controlling himself with difficulty so he didn't start a shouting match, McCall closed his eyes and sat back. "This is one of the most highly decorated musical pieces in history, Naruto. Don't complain."

"Aye, sir," he said, pouting, while the first strings began to play. Then a smile stretched over his holographic face as he had a wicked idea.

McCall, his eyes still closed, was surprised to hear the sounds of muffled laughter coming from all around him. He opened his eyes and looked around.

Every single person on the bridge crew was turned away from him, and he could see shoulders shaking as some of them tried to stifle laughter.

"And what, _exactly_, is so funny?" he bit out.

"Nothing sir," Naruto said in a too-innocent tone of voice that immediately had alarm bells going off in McCall's head.

"What did you do?" he asked tiredly.

Turning around, the AI let a smug grin stretch over his face. "Well, take a look at yourself."

Blinking twice, McCall turned towards a nearby bulkhead, which was clear enough so that he could see his reflection. Over his face a holographic representation of a Guy Fawkes mask was being projected.

He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Naruto..."

"Oh, come on! Tell me that's not just a _little_ bit funny?"

"No, now get rid of it."

"Meh, you're no fun. By the way, though, we're coming up on the enemy ships."

The commander's head swiveled around so fast the AI was worried he might get whiplash. "Open missile bay doors and charge up MACs."

"Already done, though I'm still wondering how we managed to fit that entire conversation into the space of a minute and a half."

"Mysteries of life," McCall answered shortly. "Prepare targeting solutions once we're in view. MAC's first, they'll help clear a path for the missiles. One shot each."

"Got it."

Asteroids bounced off the left side of the destroyer as it plowed towards the still stationary alien ships, the strings of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture coming towards the crescendo.

**THS _Palaven_ **

General Arterius cursed wildly as his crewmen scampered around, trying to get their ship moving again. Cursing at his officers, his crew, his ship and basically everything. And at the same time, he was struggling with fear.

He'd been a fool. His forces were helpless, blind and damaged. The EMP from the nuclear device had knocked out power on the _Palaven_ and, he was guessing, every other ship in what was left of the fleet.

And he could see from looking out the window that the ship had come back around.

"Get this ship moving, you useless fools!" he shouted.

"Sir, the blast has knocked out practically every system we have," Joran Pallis said calmly. "We've been trying to get everything back online, but that nuclear weapon has rendered us inoperative."

"Well, how long until everything is back online!?"

"Another five minutes, at least."

"That ship is bearing down on us, you incompetent-"

"I'm well aware of that, sir!" he said, finally losing his temper. "And at least I'm not blaming everyone else and actually trying to do something about it!"

Before the general could even begin to process the insubordinate act, a turian ran up. "Sir, we've managed to get our sensors up. The ship is bearing down on us, and it's power is increasing!"

His heart ran cold. The mysterious ship was getting ready to fire, and even if they could start moving, it could pursue them.

He'd led his forces to slaughter.

**UNSC _Maelstrom_ **

On the destroyer, Commander McCall sat down in his chair and glared forward. "Take out the bigger ship lined up with the smaller one with the MACs and knock the lead ship out of commission with Archer salvos. Fire."

He waited for a few seconds, and when he didn't feel the tell-tale rumble of a MAC round firing, he looked over at Naruto. "Care to explain why you're waiting?"

Naruto merely grinned. "Wait and see. I promise you'll like this."

A few more seconds passed, McCall's fingers tapping on his arm, this time out of annoyance. Then, as he listened to the music still coming out of the speakers, he suddenly knew.

"Oh, don't tell me..."

"You know it'll be cool," Naruto said with a grin. "Firing."

The destroyer shook as the magnetic coils flashed with electricity, spitting out two 600 ton bullets that flashed across to the enemy ships, going through asteroids like they weren't even there. They struck the second cruiser head on and sheared right through it, only to hit the frigate right behind it and destroy it as well. On the _Maelstrom,_ the Archer pod bay doors had opened and dozens of missiles began to pour out of the ship, heading towards the enemy fleet.

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture hit the crescendo just as the Archer salvo hit the ships, the shaped fusion charges exploding in time with the cannon fire from the music.

McCall sighed. Naruto was such a drama queen.

The space around the last cruiser was suddenly very empty. "Five Archer missiles is all it'll take to knock that ship outta the fight," Naruto said.

"Do it."

Five more missiles launched from the destroyer and, after a few seconds, struck the cruiser in several key locations, crippling it.

The crew of the destroyer cheered. Years before, it could have taken dozens of UNSC ships to destroy even one of the Covenant's. Now, it seemed it would be the opposite.

"Course correct, 270 by 090," McCall said, the only one on the bridge not smiling. He sat into his chair and typed into his pad. _We're not done yet._

Naruto blinked. _Why are we typing?_

_Let the crew have a bit longer to celebrate. What are our options with the three remaining ships?_

_Two have descended into Shanxi's atmosphere, probably to drop off troops. The last one is still in space. Given the dimensions they have, I'd reckon about three thousand troops per ship, if they're packed in tight enough._

_How many do we have on the ground?_

_Two hundred, three if there are volunteers. _

_Ordnance?_

_Few hundred assault rifles, battle rifles, DMRs, Magnums and a few SAWs and Railguns. Thirty_ _Mongooses_ (Here McCall noticed Naruto's snort),_ twenty Warthogs of various types and three Scorpions._

_Who's in command?_

_Colonel Amelia Clarkson._

_Get on the horn with her and coordinate where we should drop Marines and ODSTs. Can we hit the ships from here?_

_Risky, since their impact on the planet's surface could injure civilians in the colony who are still evacuating. Sides, I doubt we'll need to._

_Explain._

_There's a prototype Wet Navy warship out on the ocean which turned around as soon as we notified the colonies administrator. It was out on exercises, but it looks like it'll have to do some of them in real combat._

_What's so special about it?_

_Functions as both a support/combat vessel, with aircraft hangers with 15 F-101 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles and two Pelicans. Besides that, it's testing laser and pulse turrets and has three prototype MACs on board, codenamed Trebuchets for heavy hitting power. These are upgrades of the older Onagers that were in service during the Human-Covenant War. The coolest thing though, is the cloaking and shielding systems that make it hard to hit and hard to destroy. Pretty awesome, huh?_

"Hn..." the commander grunted, speaking (sort of) out loud for the first time in a while.

Naruto blinked and looked over at the man. "Geez, you're not gonna turn out like Sasuke, are you? Damn, was that guy a grouch."

"You know I'm not a fictional character, right?"

"True, true... or are you?"

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, McCall huffed. "Regardless, we still have a colony to defend. Prepare to launch Pelicans and drop pods and put General Clarkson on-screen."

"Connecting..."

He waited for a few seconds, then a stern-faced woman appeared on the screen. "Commander McCall."

"Colonel Clarkson, good to hear from you."

"Pity I can't say the same thing. You just brought news of an impending invasion, which makes it my job to sort all of this out."

A blink was the only sign of McCall's surprise at the slightly accusing tone, though others on his crew did a far worse job of hiding their own reactions.

"Of course," the Commander said. "We're waiting on your signal to launch ODST's. In this case, I think your knowledge far exceeds mine, therefore I defer to your judgment."

"How kind," she said, the sarcastic tone barely audible. Out of the corner of his eye, McCall noticed that Naruto visibly bristled, a few lines of code centered around his eyes flashing red for a millisecond.

"Coordinate with the_ Maelstrom_. I hope to hear good news when we speak next."

Giving a stiff nod, the Colonel clicked off the connection, leaving the crew of the destroyer to their duties.

"Geez, what a tight-ass."

"Naruto..."

"What? I'm just saying, do you think she could have been less snippy during the conversation?"

"You are honestly the last person in the galaxy who should talk about being snippy."

The AI raised an artificial eyebrow. "Doesn't mean I can't recognize when other people need to get over themselves. I mean, come on!"

"Regardless," McCall said with a great deal of patience, "- we still have things to do. Prepare to bring'er about."


End file.
